vV^ 



0^ 



• .^°-% 









































<- o 












<- O 






.^^'V 

V ^ 



4 o 






^°^ 






V'-.TT'-,/' %'^^'%°' %'"^\/ "o *.: 



.0 







ift ^^ 4*D' 




-^^o-« 




'^ O 






V ^^^f 



b^^r^^ 






A^^^-^ 

V N<^ 










.^^ 















'^ 















G 



0' 






^^0^ 









S> 



rt> 




4q 



<!.* .,<^ 





■CL'^ ^ 



^tstorg 



^Bplfefa of ^amel ^oone 







^octetg 



COYLE PRESS. FRANKFORT, KY. 




OBTAINED FROM ENGLAND BY DR. MAYFIELD 




DANIEL BOONE 



1 he ooone-oryan History 

my D% I U B%YAN 
A great grand nephew of T)aniel Boone 

The foilowing articles were read before tKe Historical Society some 
years ago and laid aside until tKe present demand fcwr their publication was 
made. Dr. Bryan was a very careful historian, and has made, as the 
reader will see, a very careful and exhaustive research for data concerning 
bis own people, to which research he has devoted money, tiravel and wide 
correspondence in America. His letter appended in regard to Bryan's 
Station fills a long needed page in the history of the Bryans at the station 
during its investment by Girty witb his Indian allies. It will be seen a 
number of the Bryan's were there at the time,-'~{Edo] 



To the Kentucky Historical Society* 

By your energetic and enthusiastic secretary, Mrs. Morton, I am re- 
quested to write something "new and interesting" about the Boones, or 
Bryans or both. As to saying anj^hing new, it is hard to do when the 
''field has been harrowed" so thoroughly and by more competent persons 
than your humble servant; but I believe I can give you a few new items 
worthy of mention, and think I can recall many old, and so present them 
as to make them practically new. As to this being interesting will rest 
with you. 

BOONE. 

When we speak of Boone, of course we mean Col. Daniel Boone, 
the pioneer of Kentucky. The history of the Boone family, prior to 
their migration to America, cannot be had but by a personal visit and inspec- 
tion of the records of England of past generations, which would be here 



a brief, unsatisfactory "record history," It seems that the first Jefinife 
knowledge of them here begins with the fact that George Boone, born 
1662, was married and lived in a small town about eight miles from Exe- 
ter, England. Exeter at this time was an important seaport town in De- 
vonshire, S. W. England, and in their day (the Boones') was the seat ol 
the old Saxon kings. In 1717 George Boone emigrated to America with 
his family, consisting of his wife^ Mary, and eleven children, two 
daughters and nine sons. The names of only five of the sons seem to 
have been preserved, viz., John, James, Solomon, George and Squire. 

George Boone and family arrived at Philadelphia, October 10, 1717^ 
{It is said he was appointed secretary to William Peon by King James at 
the request of Sir Wm, Perm, M. P.) While it is generally stated he 
came with his family, there are records showing conclusively that some 
members of the Boone family were residents of Pennsylvania as early as 
1685, and that his son George, v/as in Pennsylvania prior to 171 3. It is 
also stated by historians that he came from Bradwich, England. This is a 
mistake, George Boone, Jr. (his son) came from Bradwich, The mistake 
has been made like loo many others that get into history in not closely dis- 
tinguishing between father and son when of the same name. 

George Boone, Sr., (as we will have to call him now), lived in 
Calumpton, Devonshire;, England, and came from there to Pennsylvania, 
la thai day religious beliefs were emphasized with much force. The 
Boones were "dissenters^ and belonged to the "Society of Friends" (called 
Quakers), both in ErUgland and America; this was sufficient reason for 
their choosing Pennsylvania for their future home. 

To prop>erly understand what follows, it is necessary to know some- 
thing of the political divisions of Pennsylvania at the time the Boones 
came to America, and trace the divisions immediately following. 

As the grants for the Colonies designated some parallel or point of 
beginning for the north and south boundaries at the ocean front, and thence 
in parallel lines west to the ^'Pacific ocean,'^ so the various colonial councils 
seems to have adopted a similar course in dividing the colonies into 
counties. Thus, in 1662, the colony of Pennsylvania was divided into 
three countries, viz: Bucks, Philadelphia and Chester. At a council held 
in Philadelphia "ye 1-2-1685," the boundary of Bucks county is declared 
to be a line beginning at "ye mouth of Poetquesink creek, on Delaware, 
and go up thence by ye sd creek by ye several courses thereof to a S. W. 



7 

6c N. E. line Isaid line is the present south line of Bucks coiinty] , continu- 
ing said line as fcir as ye sd county;" this then meant to the Susquehanna 
river. All north of said line and east of the Susquehanna river was to be 
Buc'<s county. The boundary of the county of Chester to begin at "ye 
mouth of Bough creek, on the Delaware river, being the upper end of 
lenecum island and ^soe' up that creek, dividing the said island from ye 
land of Androse Boone & Co., &c., &c ," from thence it meanders more 
or less, all the meanderings being given in the most minute detail, to the 
"Schoolldll river, which said 'Schoolkill river' afterwards to be the bound," 
all south of this line (the Schuylkill river) and west of the Susquehanna to 
be Chester county. All between Bucks and Chester counties was to be 
Philadelphia county. Thus you will see all east of the Schuylkill river was 
Philadelphia county, to the line of Bucks county. It seems the first settlers 
of the Colonies would settle near the sea coast and form townships; when 
enough townships were settled, or there was enough population, the settle- 
ment would be erected into a county; a line running north and south would 
cut off the settled portion to the east, which would retain the old name of 
the county, and all west of said (^north aud south) dividing line would be 
given a new name. Thus the present west line of Chester county was 
run in I 729 all east retaining the name of Chester county, and all the 
great unsettled region west of said line and south of the Schuylkill and 
west of the Susquehanna was erected into Lancaster county. 

George Boone, Sr., and his family landed in Philadelphia October 
10, 1717. Soon after Boone arrived he purchased a large tract of land 
on the Schuylkill river and moved on to it at once; he had his settlement 
erected into a township which he called Exeter township. This is a short 
distance southeast of the present site of Reading, Pa. 

I have copies of old records of the "Society of Friends" in my 
possession, from which I copy: "5-27-1713, George Boone, Jr., & 
Deborah, daughter of Wm. Howell, married." (Abington, Mo. Mt. 
record.) Again "8'26-l7I3, George Boone produced certificate from 
'Bradwitch,' in Devonshire, Great Britain, of his orderly and good con- 
versation while he lived there, which was read ai;id accepted." "Children 
of George & Deborah Boone:" "George b. 5-3-1714. Mary b. 2-12- 
1716. Hannah b. 7-20- 1718. Dinah b. 10-18-1 722. Deborah b. 
12-18-1720," "10-26-1720 certificate granted to George Boone & 
family to settle in or towards Oaley & join themselves to Gwynedd Mo. 



Mtg.*^ You will see this is the family recdrJ of George Boone, Jr. Now 
note what follows: 

''Gwynedcl Mtg. 10-31-1 7f 7 George Booue Sr,, produced 
certificate of his good life and conversation from meeting at 'Calompton' ire 
Great Brirain, was read and received."^^ '^Squire Boone^ son of George^ 
of Philadelphia Co., yoeman^ married to Sarah, daughter of Edward 
Morgan, of same county^ at Gwynedd Meeting House 7- 1 3- ? 720; wit- 
nesses, George, Edward and Elizabeth Morgan, George and James 
Boone, WiEiara, John arid Daniel Morgan and 31 others.^ Children of 
Squire and Sarah Boone, Exeter Mo. Mlg.; "Sarah b. 4-7-1 724. Israel 
b. 3-9-1626. Samoel k 3-22-1728. Johnaihan b. 10-6-1730, 
Elizabeth b. 12-5.^732. Darnel b. 8-22-1734. Mary b. 9^3-1736, 
George b. 1 1-2-1 739. Edward b. 9-9-1 740.'^ There were three others 
— Nathan, Squire and Hannah. Why they were omitted from this record 
I have not been able to le^ro. They were the three youngest children. 
Squire Boone being only eight years old when hrs parents died, and the 
other two still younger. As the new style of reckoning time was not 
adopted until I 752 in the British empire, these dates are all old style, and 
io get the dates comprehensible to us they must be rendered into new 
Style. If I am correctly informed this is done by setting these dates for- 
ward eleven days. This would give Daniel Boone's birth from September 
22, 1734 N. S. Flence the State Historical Society observes the 3rd of 
Oc^-ober for Dame! Boone's birthday N. T- It seems to me this record 
ought to set aside any doubt or quibble and fix for all time the 
birthday of Daniel Boone; also his birthplace, as it is shown here 
by record that he was born in Exeter township, on the east side oi 
Schuylkill river in what was then Philadelphia county, Pa, But 
later (1745) ^'Berks'* county was cot out of Philadelphia and Lan- 
caster counties by its present north, east and south boundaries. Thus 
while Daniel Boone was born in Philadelphia county, he finally lived in 
^'Berks'' county, though he did not move. The want of knowledge of 
the territory involved and dates of organizing these counties and the simi- 
larity between '^Bucks^ and ^^Berks" is no doubt what has led to so much 
confusion as to where he was born. To settle another pointy I notice in 
all these old records the finale "e" is used in spelling his name, and where 
they have signed their names, for any puprpose, they invairably spell it 
"Boone»" I have an old deed in my posession where Daniel Boone 
deeded a tract of land to my grandfather, signed in Daniel's own hand- 
writing whese he uses the final "e," 



9 

Again 1 quole ff om ihe old records: "Commission issued to Walter 
M'Coole as ranger of Bucks county 1 0-4- 1 74 1 ; Do. to George 
Boone, Esq., as ranger of Philadelphia county, same date." This was 
evidently George Boone, Jr.; we see he had become an "esquire" also, 
which was a mark of honor under the old English law, which then- pre- 
vailed. Written in the old family Bible, by James Boone (uncle of 
Daniel), after Daniel's death (1820), is this* "George Boone, Sr., died in 
Berks Co, Pa., Feby. 2-1740, aged 78 5^s. Wife Mary born same 
place as her husband, died [date not given] aged 74; both buried af 
Oaley, Berks county." This shows in a striking manner how these mis- 
lakes of location creep into our histories; at the time (1 750) this was still 
Philadelphia county, as we have seen that Barks county was not organized 
until 1 745. James Boone futher says that Squire Boone and his family 
left Exeter (now Berks county) on the first day of May, 1 750, and 
moved to North Carolina, Squire Boone settled on the Yadkin river at 
Alleman's Ford, also since called Boone's Ford. This was in the same 
community where Morgan Bryan then lived. Here Squire Boone lived 
until his death and was buried in Joppa cemetery near the present site of 
Mocksville, now Davie county. 

From this on the history of the Boones and Bryans are so closely in- 
terwoven that the history of one cannot be correctly given without the 
other. For this reason it it now necessary to "trace" this branch of the 
Bryan family to the settlement in North Carolina. 

Retrospect: Ireland is one of the most ancient civilized countries 
known to history or tradition. Rome carried on an extensive commerce 
with Ireland (then called lern), so that the seaports of Ireland were better 
known than the ports of Britain, yet Rome never attempted the conquest 
of Ireland. Nine hundred years B. C, Ireland was governed by a parlia- 
ment, and the ruler, Ollay Fola, founded schools of philosophy, astronomy, 
poetry and medicine. Ireland was ruled by her own princes or kings from 
this time down to the English conquest. 

Three hundred years B, C, Hugony the Great dividing the island 
into four provinces, viz; Munster, Connaught, Leinster and Munster, which 
continue as political division to this day. During the first century a portion 
of each of the four provinces were cut off to form a "National District" 
surrounding the capital, after which our District of Columbia is patterned. 
The four divisions were four seperate kingdoms; then there was a kmg 



10 

over all, called "Ard-Righ," meaning supreme monarch of Ireland. As in 
other countries, these incursions were repeated with ever-increasing force 
until 840, when they had subjugated a large portion of the island and 
held it for seven years, when their powers were broken by a combined 
effort of the native princes under Nial III; but by intrigue, when force of 
arms failed them, they clung to the island until 1 002. The Danes broke 
up the schools and colleges. From these learned men who were scattered all 
over Europe and exercised no little influence in the civilizing processes im- 
mediately following. Kennedy was King of Munster at this time; he came 
of the old Celtic race that still inhabited Scotland, Wales and Ireland. 
Although one of the most powerful and last to yield of the native princes, 
the Danes had finally established themselves in his kingdom also. At this 
time surnames had not come into general use^ though ihey were beginning 
to be used on the continent. Persons of distinction were distinguished by 
an appendix to their name, descriptive of some personal characteristic or 
location, as "Richard of Lion-hearted,^ or "William of Normandy," To 
distinguish the son of a man of note, a prefix was used. In Ireland 
the Celtic (pronounced Kekic) language was still in use, but like 
other European people, each little kingdom developed differences in dialect; 
thus in the Southern provinces "O," when used as a prefix, mean "son of;" 
in the Northern parts and in Scotland (where the Celtic language was 
still used), "Mc" was used to designate the son. Thus "O'Nial" meant 
"the son ot Nial;" "McMorr-gh," the son of "Morrogh." 

In 978 Kennedy, king of Munster, was succeeded by his son 

BRYAN. 

This name has been spelled in ail imaginable ways that the vowels 
could be transposed, as "Bryen," "Brien," '^Brion," "Bryon," etc., but the 
wrong spelling most often met with in public records and prints is "Brian/ 
"Briant" and "Bryant." Many branches of the original family are dis- 
posed to consider themselves a different people because of a variation of 
the vowels in the name or because of a final "t;" but I have evidence at 
hand that convinces me they are ail one people, sprung from ^he same 
source, viz., Bryan, King of Munster and all Ireland. 

Bryan was born about 927; consequently, was fifty-one years old 
when he became king of Munster. As general of his father's army in 



11 

Kennedy's wars with the Danes, Bryan had already become one of the 
most noted princes of all Ireland. Now that he was king, his own people 
rallied to his own standard until he was able to prosecute the war against 
the Danes with such vigor as to drive them from his own kingdom, when 
his fame became so great that he was crowned at Tara ( 1 002) " Ard- 
Rlgh," or supreme monarch of all Ireland. With his increased power he 
was soon enabled to drive the Danes from the entire island, or confine 
them to specific locations and compel them to pay tribute, from which he 
was called "Bryan Boru" or "Boroihme," interpreted "Bryan of the 
Tribure." This has led many to make the mistake of taking "Boru" or 
or "Boroihme" as his surname; it is only the designating "suffix." Bryan 
proved himself an able man of broad intellect, and instituted reforms that 
made him the most noted monarch of Ireland. Under his reign schools 
and colleges were revived, roads were built. He also built a navy and 
organized an efficient army. Among other reforms, he issued a decree 
that every man should take the name of his father as a surname; thus sur- 
names became permanent and families were established, the family of 
Bryan, he in his own sons also established the family of "O'Bryan" and 
under its ^variaus spellings his descendants have figured as leaders in 
Irish history down to our own time. Bryan had a son, Morrogh (Angli- 
cized Morgan), who in turn became a great general. Both were finally 
killed in a battle with the Danes, though the Danes were routed and their 
force and influene influence in Ireland forever broken. 

Soon after their deaths rival princes got into wars with one another 
until a state of disorder reigned until 1115, when Pope Adrian IV 
issued a "bull" conferring the sovereignty of Ireland on Henry I 1 of 
England. This is England's title to Ireland. 

During the wars of the conquest, which now began, the native 
princes were killed in battle, forced to fly the country, or were executed. 
Many went to Wales, Scotland and France, some with their old enemies, 
the Danes, now their friends, to Denmark. Many were taken to England 
as prisoners, or hostages, where they were executed, or after a period were 
allowed to settle as citizens. Being exiles and without a country, these 
princes soon lost their royal prerogatives and became merged into the 
citizenship about them. 

Religious persecutions for conscience sake was now in full sway all 
over Europe. Meanwhile the "New World," America, had been dis- 



12 

covered, which, by its distance across the great ocean, promised an asylum 
of safety and peace to the over-persecuted peoples of the old world, 
where every man might hope to sit beneath his own "vine and fig tree" 
and enjoy the fruits thereof" wilh none to molest or make afraid," and 
where they migjit rest from the "man-hunt" of the old world. Among 
the thousands who came, the colonial records of Virginia, Maryland and 
Pennsylvania show that the Bryans came to those colonies among the early 
settlers in great numbers. They came from ail over Europe, but principally 
from England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland. At what time our ancestors 
left Ireland I have not been able to ascertain; but from what 1 have at 
hand, they must have left during some of Elizabeth's devastations and 
went with friendly Dandes to Denmark, where I find — — — Bryan (given 
name not now known, but believed to be Wiltians) was bean about 1630, 
and his name spelled "Bryan;" this being so far back, his spelling of the 
name was taken as correct. He continued to live in Denmark until he 
married (name of the girl he married is not known, but believed to be 
Sarah Bringer), and had a son born (about 1 67 1 ) whom he called 
"Morgan,'' after which said Bryan moved or returned to Ireland. After 
he came to years of maturity, Morgan Bryan left his parents in Ireland 
and came to Pennsylvania. You will remember Pennsylvania at this time 
was divided into three counties. The records show that Morgan Bryan 
lived in Chester county, where, in 1719, he married Martha Strode. I 
have information .showing she was a direct descendant of Sir William 
Strode- one of the five members who condemned Charles I and signed his 
death warrant. Morgan Bryan continued to live in Chester comity unti* 
four or five of his oldest children were bom. About 1726 or 1730, 
Morgan Bryan and Alexander Ross and "other friends (Quakers) ob- 
tained a grant of 100,000 acr/es of land on the Potomac and Opequan 
rivers in the colony of Virginia. He moved to this land and settled near 
the present site of Winchester about 1 730. Here the rest of his children 
were born. The cfiildren of Morgan Bryan and Martha Strode Bryan 
were: Joseph, Samuel, James, Morgan, John, Elinor, Mary, William, 
Thomas, Sarah and Rebecca, 

Martha Strode Bryan died about I 747 and was buried at the home 
near the present site of Winchester, Va. After her death Morgan Bryan 
sold his interests in Virginia, and in the fall of 1 748 moved his family to 
North Carolina and settled in the forks of the Yadkin river, which was 



!3 

iKen Anson county, but m 1 753 Rowan county was set off from Anson; 
thus they were in Rowan county. Thus we see Morgan Bryan had been 
Jiving on the Yadkin river about two years when Squire Boone came from 
Pennsylvania and settled upon the river and became a near neighbor to 
nim. Here Daniel Boone and Rebecca Bi"yan became acquainted, and in 
1 755 were married. William Bryan (son of Morgan and brother of 
Rebecca) also married Mary Boone (sistef of Daniel) the same year. 

These marriages of the young people produced a bond of friendship 
between the two families that led that and the next generation to share 
each others hardships as well as pleasuers, and that has not been broken to 
this day. 

Morgan Bryan, Sr„ died in 1 763; aged ninety-two, and v/as buried 
in what was then Rowan county, N. C. 

September 25, 1 773, Daniel Boone, Squire Boone (brothers), James 
Morgan, Jr., and William Bryan (brothers), and James Sparks, all with 
large families of children, many of said children approaching maturity, 
started from North Carolina to settle on the Kentucky river. 

"Kain-tuck-ee" is a Shawnee word and signified "at the head of the 
river"; it never meant ^'dark and bloody ground," as is generally stated. 
These men with their sons, old enough to be efficient with the rifle, formed 
quite a respectable force, as they could certainly muster some twenty rifles. 
They proceeded without interest of note until they reached the PowelFs 
Valley, where they were joined by five other families and "forty well- 
armed men." 

Their daily order of march was for the armed men to take the lead, 
then came the women and children on horseback, then the cattle and 
young stock, driven by the older boys and young men, who thus brought 
up the rear and acted as a rear guard. In this order they took their daily 
march, and proceeded without incident worthy of note until October 1 0th, 
when they were crossing Powell's river for the last time, as they approached 
"Cumberland Gap." While moving, the cavalcade would stretch out on 
the road for a mile or so. The armed men had forded the river and 
were halted and formed in line to protect the company, expecting attack, if 
at all, from the front. While the mam force were thus on guard, other 
men were helping the women and children to ford the river. The time 
consumed in fording the river had brought the rear guard up to within half 



u 

of a mile or less of the river. While some of the women anJ children 
were still in the midst of the stream the entire company were startled by a 
sudden and heavy firing in the rear; some of the armed men hastily 
mounted and rushed back across the river, and as they got fairly on to the 
bank, met one of the young men, wounded, dashing up, who reported that 
they had been fired on from ambush. The men soon came upon the 
Indians, after a sharp fight drove them o&, to find that the other six young 
men were dead. All had received fatal wounds at the first fire, showing 
the Indians had lain in the thicket at the roadside, and as the company was 
too strong for them, they had allowed the cavalcade to pass by, but when 
the seven young men came up, it was too tempting for Indian enmity to re- 
sist. They evidently each picked his man, took deliberate aim, and hut 
one, sent their bullets but too true, killing outright the sk and wounding 
the seventh. 

Daniel Boone's oldest son, James, was among the slain. Fearing a 
general attack^ the company at once went into camp and remained under 
arms the rest of that day and night. This caused them, after buryjng the 
dead, to retreat to the settlements on Cinch river, Va,, forty miles back or* 
the road they had come. 

Here they erected cabins for their protection and comfort and went 
into winter quarters to await the following spring to renew their journey. 
The next spring an Indian war broke out, known as Dunmore's War, 
Boone was commissioned captain in the Virginia militia and placed m 
command of three contiguous forts, part of a system of forts from the 
Potomac to the south line. The emigrants remained in their cabins on the 
Cinch river during this war, which was concluded by the battle of Point 
Pleasant, October, 1774, after which the militia being disbanded, Boone 
returned to the camp on the Cinch. An impetus was now given to the 
settlement of Kentucky because of the bounty lands given her soldiery by 
Virginia. 

Among many others. Col. Richard Henderson organized a company 
with the purpose of purchasing the right of the Cherokee Indians (what- 
ever that right might be) to all the land bounded by the Ohio, Kentucky 
and Cumberland rivers. (Kentucky river was originally called the 
Louisiana river.) Because of his influence v/ith the Indians, Capt. Boone 
engaged and went with CoL Henderson to attend a treaty with the 
Cherokees at Fort Watauga, situated on a branch of the Holston river. 



15 

March 1 775, where the right of the Cherokees to the above stated lands 
was purchased by this company. Then it was important to take possession 
of the territory. Capt. Boone was engaged to do this. He raised a 
company of well-armed men (no doubt his own people formed a good 
part of it) and proceeded at once to "blaze" a road to the Kentucky river. 
They proceeded with such dispatch as to begin April 1 st the erection of 
the "Stockade Fort," which in honor of Boone, was called "Boone's 
Borough," on the Kentucky river at the mouth of Otter creek. The fort 
was completed the 1 4 th of the following June, As soon as the fort was 
completed Boone started to the Cinch settlement for his family, leaving a 
small guard in the fort. The old company, William, James and Morgan 
Bryan, Squire Boone and James Sparks and families — and now that the 
danger was trifling, other familes joined the caravan — in September or 
October, just two years from their first start, crossed Powell's river and this 
time proceeded to the Kentucky river without incident. 

While the Boones proceded at once to Boone's Borough, the 
Bryans only stopped there while they could erect a fort for their protection. 
They proceeded further north on the Elkhorn, where they erected a stock- 
ade fort, which they called Bryan's Station, which was built that fall and 
winter. Col. Richard Calaway and Col. Benjamin Logan, old friends of 
the Bryans and Boones in North Carolina, came with their families early 
the next spring (1 776) and each erected a station or fort, as they were 
called both ways. These settlements were four hundred miles beyond 
the frontiers of Virginia and North Carolina. The Revolution had begun 
by the battles of Lexingron and Concord. A company of hunters were 
camped on the present site of Lexington, Ky.; hearing of the battle of 
Lexington, they called their place "Camp Lexington." Thus came the 
name, and in due time, the town of Lexington. — These pioneers are now 
called the near guard of the Revolution. 

As to the defense of Bryan's Station: My great grandfather, James 
Bryan (son of Morgan Bryan and brother to William Bryan), married 
Rebecca Enox in North Carolina in 1 756. Their children were; David, 
born October 29, 1757; Jonathan, born July 15, 1759; Henry, born 
January 15, 1 761; Susannah, born April II, 1 763; Mary; born Decem- 
ber 13, I 765; Rebecca, born March I, I 767. Soon after the birth of 
the last of these children, James' wife, Rebecca, died and left him a 
widower in the prime of life, about the age of forty-four years. He never 
married again, but lived a widower until his death, about August 18, 1807. 



16 



You will remember that Morgan Bryan's daughter, Rebecca (sister to 
James, William and Morgan, Jr., and the rest), married Col. Danie! 
Boone. She seems to have been a favorite sister with James, and after 
the death of his wife, his sister, Rebecca Bryan Boone, took his children 
and raised them and "Uncle DanTs" was their home until they were 
grown and married. The girls were all married at "Uncle DanTs" house. 
This circumstance begot a more intimate friendship between these two 
families than the rest that extended to the next generation, so that when 
Daniel Boone came to Missouri, James Bryan and all, or nearly all, of the 
children of both families soon followed him to Missouri, and there they 
lived within a mile of each other until the death of James, Rebecca B. 
Boone and Daniel. The latter lived until my father was a young man 
grown, and when about eighteen years old, actually made his home in 
Boone's house for about eighteen months to have "Uncle Dan'l" doctor 
his old snake-bite, having been bitten by a rattlesnake when about twelve 
years old, which had never healed. My father lived until I was about 
fifty or more; I did not leave home for good until I was past twenty-six, so 
you can now see what my chances were for learning the old family tradi- 
tions. As I remember my father in his prime, he stood six feet one, 
weighing 1 85 to 1 90 pounds, a Roman nose, of fine portly appearence, 
and I must say of more than the average intelligence. Where I have 
found it necessary to verify father's traditions by search of public records I 
have so uniformly found them correct that I take them as correct, unless 
there is record evidence to the contrary. In the move from North Carolina 
James Bryan went with Boone to Kentucky and took all his children. 
They stopped at Boonesborough until Bryan's Station was ready for their 
occupancy, when they, with others, went there and after that Bryan's 
Station was their home through all the Indian troubles from the time of 
its building in the fall of 1 775 until they came to Missouri. In the 
troubles with the Indians in 1777 and 1 778, many of the families who 
had come out to Kentucky, went back for safety, and returned at a later 
date; hence William Bryan is said to have "brought his family to Kentucky 
in 1 780" while we know he came first in I 775 with Boone and helped 
build Bryan's Station. So with Morgan Bryan, Jr. This is how there is 
such a discrepancy among the descendants as to the time that generation 
did come to Kentucky. James Bryan never went back, but remained in 
Kentucky through all the trouble, and all his children. Thus he, at the 



17 

age of about fifty-five to sixty, and his sons (Jonathan, my grandfather one 
of them), just young men grown, became defenders of the old fort in 
1 782. These, our grand aunts, his daughters, as young women, helped 
carry the water that historic morning; also my grandmother, then a young 
woman. This we know like we know many other things pertaining thereto 
— by father having many, many times recited these facts in our presence, 
he having gotten them from his father and grandfather and Daniel Boone 
and others of the older people who did know of and participated in them. 

At the time Col. Campbell, of Virginia (Kentucky then Virginia 
Territory) and others gathered up the militia (we call them now State 
troops) for the Kings Mountain affair, James and Morgair, Jr. (Bryan) 
went with that force and were at the Battle of Kings Mountain October, 
I 780; on the return of this force, many like my great grandfather and his 
brother, being from North Carolina, many of the families who had pre- 
viously gone back to North Carolina for safety— now that affairs in North 
Carolma were so disturbed — took advantage of this safe escort to return to 
Kentucky. As stated, this making the second "going to Kentucky" for 
many of the families of the relations, thus giving rise to such conflicting ac- 
counts of the time the various families went to Kentucky. 

Again, on the first trip (1 773), after the attack by the Indians, on 
their approach to Cumberland Gap, where James Boone, oldest son of 
Daniel Boone was killed, the entire company retreated back to the settle- 
ments on Cinch river, Virginia, where they stayed two years; then in 
I 775 started hom Cinch river, Virginia, and went to Kentucky. Hence 
some claim their ancestry came from Virginia, while others claim it 
came from North Carolina — all the same company, the discrepancy arising 
for want of the proper knowledge of the circumstances and facts. At the 
time of the attack here mentioned the company was fording Powell's river. 
Elizabeth Sparks (one of the five families from North Carolina), then 
about nine years old, was riding a gentle horse and carrying a baby 
brother before her. She was in the midst of the river when the Indians 
fired on the rear guard. My great uncle, Henry Bryan, at a later day, 
married this Elizabeth Sparks in Kentucky, and they afterward came to 
Missouri, where they lived until their death. She lived to be nearly one 
hundred years old. I have seen and heard her talk often. She finally 
died at my oldest sister's house after I was grown. Among these old 
people we get our traditions. I have also often been at the grave where 
Daniel Boone and wife were first buried in Missouri. It was right near 
where we lived when I was a boy. 



18 

Though the "half has not been told," having already transgressed my 
limit, unavoidably, it seems to me, 1 must now leave you on this historic 
ground where the Bryans and Boones, their relations and decendents 
were the founders of a great State; where the women, descendents of 
these, have long since become famous for their faithfulness, patriotism, in- 
telligence and beauty. J. D. BRYAN. 

Republished from the Register of the Kentucky State Historical 
Society 1905, Vol.5, No. 9. 



NOTES FROM THE "HISTORY OF IRELAND." 
Page 141: 

"Castle Connell/' on the road from Dublin to Limerick, lies on the 
the right of the road and close to the rapids of Doonass, one of the most 
beautiful parts of the river Shannon. It is greatly resorted to by the citi- 
zens of Limerick as summer quarters, and by the trades-people on Sundays 
and holidays, to drink the waters of the Chalybeate Spa and enjoy the 
beauties of the place. The ruins of the castle, once the seat of the 
O'Brien, kings of Munster, rising on a detached rock in the town, from a 
very picturesque object." 

On page 1 49: 

**Three miles from Thurles, on the banks of the Suir, is Holy Cross 
Abbey, one of the finest remains of the pointed style of architecture in 
Ireland, founded in the year 1 1 82 by Donald O'Brien, King of Limerick. 

"By the Owne river is Birchfield's Castle, the residence of Lord 
Cornelius O'Brien. The tourist will observe the improvements effected by 
Mr. O'Brien, M. P., not merely within the boundaries of the grounds at- 
tached to his castle, but throughout his estate. There are various drives 
and walks along the cliffs; the stables^ coach houses and splendid banquet- 
ing rooms will abundantly testify. To attempt a minute description of the 
cliffs of Moher(on theOwne river) is impossible. Suffice it to say, that they 
extend from Hogshead Bay to Doolin Bay, a distance of five miles, rise 
perpendicularly from two to eight hundred feet above the ocean and dis- 
play all that wonderful and stricking variety of awfully impending cliff, 
deep ravine, resounding cavern and detached island rock arched and pin- 
nacled in a thousand grotesque forms, which the cliffs here in common with 
all those composed of flint and clay rock exhibit, when exposed to the 
ceaseless fury of a heavy sea." 

The castle is near this wonderfully beautiful scenery on the ocean. 



Additional Facts About Boone 



(See Register Kentucky State Historical Society No. 1 , Vol. 1 
By Mrs. Jennie C. Morton) 

It is with Daniel Boone as Revolutionary soldier, path-finder, pioneer, 
legislator in Kentucky and, later on, as Commandant and Judge Advocate 
under the Spanish Government in Missouri, the interest lies in this sketch, 
and, having given his genealogy, we pass on, leaving for another time a 
more complete record of the Boones. 

Daniel Boone was bom in Berks county. Pa., and not in Maryland, as 
is stated in Marshall's History of Kentucky; and in 1 734, and not in I 746 
as Marshall writes. Says Dr. Bryan again: "The want of a knowledge of 
the territory involved, and dates of organizing these counties (Philadelphia, 
Lancaster, Berks and Bucks), is, no doubt, the reason which has led to so 
much confusion as to his birthplace. Thus, while Daniel Boone was born 
in Exeter township, east side of the Schuylkill river, Philadelphia county, 
he lived in Berks county, which was taken from Philadelphia county, 
though he did not move from said county. Squire Boone and his family 
left Exeter (now Berks county) on the first day of May, 1 750, and moved 
to North Carolina. He settled on the Yadkin river, at Alleman's Ford, also 
called Boone's Ford. This was in the same community where Morgan 
Bryan then lived. Had been there about two years when Squire Boone 
came from Pennsylyania and settled near him, on the forks of the Yadkin 
river. Here Daniel Boone met Rebecca Bryan, the daughter of Morgan 
Bryan, They were married in the year 1 755, as was also her brother, 
William Bryan, married to Mary Boone the sister of Daniel Boone, the 
same year.* 

The career of Daniel Boone from this time is familar to the school 
children of America, who have the stories as pioneers during the 
Revolution. It reads like a romance of some ideal of a pioneer and dis- 



20 

coverer, and yet Is beyond this in facts. From boj^hood he loved the 
forests. He delighted to chase the wild deer and the antelope, and to sit 
upon remote mountain heights, and in the sublime solitude of nature com- 
mune with her in her silent temples and leaf-covered shrines. Fie was not 
a student, nor was he ignorant of books. He used his bright, deep blue 
eyes and his ears to see and to hear what was most beautiful and sublime 
in Nature, and listen with attentive heart to music that enchants or noise that 
startles, or whisperings that interpreted themselves alone to him for pleasure 
or for warning. This much we learn from his remarkable autobiography, 
written by Filson at Daniel Boone's dictation. 

Says Marshall, in his History of Kentucky, vol. 1 , pages 1 7 and 1 8: 
"accustomed to be much alone, he acquired the habit of contemplation 
and of self-possession. His mind was not of the most ardent nature, nor 
does he ever seem to have sought knowledge through the medium of books. 
Naturally his sagacity was considerable, and as a woodsman he was soon 
expert, and ultimately super-eminent. Far from ferocity, his temper was 
mild, humane and charitable; his manners gentle, his address conciliating, 
his heart open to friendship and hospitality; yet his most remarkable quality 
was an enduring and unshakable fortitude." 

As Daniel Boone was living when this description was written, and as 
he was known to the historian personally, we quote again from him the 
following: "Daniel Boone, yet living, is unknown to his full fame. From 
the country of his choice (and his discovery) and of his fondest predilection 
he has been banished by difficulties he knew not how to surmount, and is 
now a resident of the Missouri, a Spanish territory. Nor will the lapse 
of time, in which fancy often finds her store-house of materials for biogra- 
phy, much less the rigid rules of modern history, permit the aid of imagina- 
tion to magnify his name with brilliant epithets, or otherwise adorn a narra- 
tive of simple facts." 

Presto! The historian was a prophet; Daniel Boone has transcend- 
ed in fame every American but Washington. The pathos of his singular 
life of peril and adventure is beyond the flight of poet's fancy or novelist's 
conception to describe or illustrate. Oratory has been taxed for a hundred 
years to pay tribute to his sublime courage and fortitude; history has 
adorned her pages with accounts of his adventures as a Revolutionary sol- 
dier and his discoveries in the wilderness of Kentucky; his wars with the 
Indians; his capture and imprisonment; his gallantry and heroism; his 



21 

Christian fortitude under the loss of his darling sons and brothers and the 
ingratitude and treachery of those he had defended and protected with his 
life. At last the loss of the home he had purchased with his life-blood, 
and the lands he had settled in the State, his bravery and sagacity had held 
for the unpatriotic but educated statesmen who followed his trail and advan- 
taged themselves by his want of knowledge of the Kentucky laws and de- 
ceptive technicalities. But honors were lavished upon him. By Lord 
Dunmore, the last Colonial Governor of Virginia, he was commissioned 
colonel, and many important trusts were confided to him as a surveyor and 
guide. He was a memba/ of the first Legislature ever convened in the 
Territory of Kentucky. His judgment was appealed to in matters of 
common law and honesty, and he was supreme in command of woodcraft 
and pathfinding in the wilderness. 

In a review of the Courier-Journal of the late Prof. Ranck's 
"History of Boonesborough," we find the following in regard to the 
Transylvania Company: "The two men who stands out most conspicuous- 
ly in this great movement are Richard Henderson, who organized the 
Transylvania Company, and Daniel Boone, who blazed the way for its 
planting upon Kentucky soil. Daniel Boone was sent forward to mark the 
route and to select the seat of Government on the south bank of the 
Kentucky river, which he did, making the location at the mouth of Otter 
creek, in the present county of Madison, about twelve miles north of 
Richmond. The site was first known as Boonesboro. Here a govern- 
ment was formed, with Henderson for Governor. In May, 1 775, a 
Legislature assembled, and in the Journal before us, which reads thus: 

'Journal of the Proceedings 
of the 
House of Delegates or Representatives of the Colony of Transylvania. 
Begun on Tuesday, 23d of May, in the year of our Lord Christ 1 775, 
and in the 1 5th year of the reign of His Majesty, King of Great 
Britian.' We find first among the names of those present, Daniel Boone 
and his brother Squire Boone." 

Says the reviewer quoted above: "History records few such incidents 
as the assembling of this body in the primeval forests, 500 miles away 
from any similar organization. Although the grant (to the Henderson 
Company) was annulled by the Governments of Virginia and South 
Carolina, and the life of Transylvania was limited to little more than a year, 



22 

the influence of such an organization under the forms of law, and of the 
educated men who directed it, cannot be overlooked" in Revolutionary 
times. It was the key to the possession of the rich territory of Kentucky, 
and no history can record more thrilling experiences of danger and diffi- 
culty than those Daniel Boone and his little band of pioneers encountered 
in their brave determination to hold the fair land they had founded. It 
was then that the pioneers found in Daniel Boone 'a safe guide and wise 
counsellor in every emergency, for his judgment and penetration were pro- 
verbially correct.' Though not a Joshua in might or mind, yet, like one 
inspired, was his utter fearlessness, his disregard of personal danger and his 
noble self-sacrifice, as evidenced in his terrible journey after his escape from 
the Indians, to save Boonesborugh. He was 1 60 miles from the doomed 
fort, but when he saw four hundred and fifty Indian warriors in their 
fiendish paint and feathers, armed and ready to march upon the fort, so 
wholly unprepared for attack or battle, he resolved upon escape to warn 
and to save, if possible, his doomed comrades and friends. With one 
meal of corn in pocket, he stole away from his brutal captors, and for five 
days, without rest by day or night, he pursued his pathless way through 
the forests to Kentucky. He found the fort as he had feared — wholly 
unprepared for the savages. He began immediate preparations for de- 
fense. With the tragic events of this noted seige at Boonesborough, in 
the fall of I 778, every reader of American history during the Revolution 
is now acquainted. The pioneers' successful resistance, on the verge of 
starvation, of the assaults of the infuriated Indians under Duquesne for nine 
days reads like a miracle. The result was a blood-bought victory that 
eventually insured the safety of the fort, and not only that but it sealed the 
fate of the British army in Kentucky. It is said, 'Had Boonesborough sur- 
rendered, the Indians and British would have rushed through the forests 
of Kentucky unobstructed, to the rear of the army of the Colonist in Vir- 
ginia and the East, and it is easy to conjecture the result at that time. The 
poor, discourged, half-beaten and half-starved Army of the Revolution 
could not have contended with a victorious foe, flushed wfth success and 
booty.' So we may regard Boonesboro, with Daniel Boone for its inspiring 
captain in defense, as the salvation of the Revolutionary army in that year, 
and a factor in its conquest over the army of Great Britain shortly after 
He was, after the seige of Boonesboro, commissioned "Captain Boone." 
and later on received a commission as "Major Boone" in the service of the 



23 

Colonist, or the Revolutionary War, as we now call it." Page 114, Life 
of Boone, by Ellis. 

He was notably careless of ever accumulating fortune in lands or 
lease. After he left Kentucky, his fame attracted Spain to his side, and he 
went to Missouri. Don Carlos D. Delassus, Lieutenant-Governor for 
Spain, situated at St. Louis, visited him and presented him with a commis- 
sion in 1 800 as Commandant of the Femme Osage District, an office which 
included both civil and military duties and honors. Boone discharged the 
duties of the office, as Commandant and Judge Advocate, with great credit, 
up to the time when the Territory of Missouri was purchased from Spain 
by the United States, in 1 803, v/hen his office expired. He then retired 
to his comfortable stone house, built upon a handsome farm in the Femme 
Osage region, and lived a quiet life of independent ease, enjoying the 
society of the most learned and distinguished men of that time, who sought 
to know this nimrod of their century. It was thought he had fought his 
last battle, but in the War of 1812-15 the old fire of patriotism in his 
veins impelled him to accept command of the Femhie Osage fort. With 
quenchless courage of other days, he defeated the Indians again, and drove 
them beyond the Mississippi river. This last feat closed his public career 
His" wife, Rebecca Bryan Boone, had died in the fall of 1812, and he no 
longer lived in his own home. She was born in W^l ill Gill ulilldT In June, 
1 755, married Daniel Boone. She had been a devoted wife and helpmate 
to the great hunter. Had reared a large family of children, and not only her 
own, but the children of her widowed brother, James Bryan. She had borne 
with brave heart the dangers and strange vicissitudes of her husband's life, 
for which his tardy honors seemed a poor compensation. In sweet and 
unbroken faith of a better life in the Better Land, she fell asleep. She 
was buried with unusual ceremonies of love and honor in the neighbor- 
hood of her home in the Femme Osage District. Daniel Boone went to 
live with his son, Nathan Boone, but later on made his home with his 
daughter and son-in-law, Flanders Callaway. While here, Chester 
Harding, the celebrated New England artist of that day, visited him for 
the purpose of painting a portrait of him. Although he was now very 
feeble, being more thein eighty years of age, Daniel Boone consented to a 
sitting, much to the delight of the artist. A copy of this portrait hangs in 
the rooms of the Kentucky Historical Society, and is of the same that 
adorns the first page of this magazine. 

In his declining years we are told by a great grand-nephew (who 
had heard the story from his grandfather, Elijah Bryan), Daniel Boone 



24 

spent his idle hours carving, with his knife, little souvenirs for his family and 
friends. On all he would cut his initials or his full name. He gave to his 
rifles names, it is said, and one of these is in the Historical Society of 
Missouri, another in the family of a son-in-law in that State, and still 
another carved by his own hand, is in the Kentucky State Historical 
Society. 

In September, 1820, the famous pioneer was taken ill, and died on 
the 26th, aged eighty-six years. When his death was announced, the 
Legislature of Missouri was in session, and adjourned in his honor. His 
funeral was the largest that had ever been known in the West. He was 
lamented by his family, as a beloved and honored citizen, a kind father and 
friend, and by the State as the most famous pioneer in the world. He 
was buried beside his wife in the wildwood graveyard of the valley of 
their home in Missouri. There they slept in perfect peace until 1845, 
when on the 1 3th of September, their remains were re-interred in the 
cemetery at Frankfort, Ky., with the grandest procession and most honoring 
ceremonies that ever attested the admiration of the world for a renowned 
hero and his wife. We have in our Historical Society a program of that 
occasion. It reads thus; 

Boone 
Procession Order. 

"It is requested that all business be suspended, and that all persons 
unite and strictly observe the following order of procession for the 
re-interment of the remains of the great pioneers of the West, Daniel 
Boone and his wife, in the Frankfort cemetery grounds, on Saturday, the 
1 3th instant." (13th of September, 1845.) 

In 1 860, the Legislature of Kentucky directed a monument to be 
erected over Daniel and Rebecca Boone and in 1 862 this monument was 
completed and erected over their graves by the State of Kentucky. In 
1 868, the attention of the Legislature was called to this monument. In 
Collins' History of Kentucky, page 187, vol. 1, we read the Legislature 
ordered "the monument over Daniel Boone (which had been deferred by 
Federal soldiers during the war) to be repaired." If this order was ever 
obeyed, there is no record of it, and certainly no evidence of the repair 
is there. The chapter of the D. A. R., of Newport, Ky., has undertaken 
the praisworthy work of restoring the monument, through subscriptions of 
the public schools of Kentucky, and their own patriotic endeavors have 
supplemented the fund for this purpose. 

Since every part of the civilized globe has heard the name of Daniel 
Boone, and bibliographies have compiled the names of the histories written 
of him, and marble urns and monuments raised to his memory. We see 
how our great bard, O'Hara, could say of him — 

"An empire is his sepulchre; ffl Jj -^ X 4 
His epitaph, his fame." 




BOONE MONUMENT 

Erected to his memory in the. Frankfort Cemetery. 



In 1 9 1 the above monument was restored, and is now one of the most 
beautiful monuments in the land. 



138 Ik 566 



^ 



c^ *. 



r^°^ «. 







•^^ « 













-^' ^ «« 









,-^°<. 







//^^X ^°'>^'> />-^'\ 







** *'Tr,-' .«,* 



4 o . 





V s • " ^ 








►''.*_°' >;^ V .^ 



H 











o > 










j< 'y 






<t-' ^ 





■e^ ' . . « .0 




^"^ >:^~^: 



>P^4^ 



/^¥a^o U^a"^ :\ 











I mS >• ^t- -^ tat Hw^v^ >> V v^j. * *$i</////4r A k^ 





o >* o ^ 






''^../•" 

'^^ 







^""^^^ 



^0 • <i 






'^ ^_^ A^ 









« o 















DOBBS BROS. * '^ 

LIBRARY BINDING 









0^ 



St AUGUSTINE V*^ . V' 



o V 













